Nokia E63 review: E for Economy

Nokia E63 is the next QWERTY messenger by Nokia, set on the glorious path of the E71. Only this time it slips off the high heels to walk it in plain straight and simple boots instead. And the matching price tag leaves little doubt of what this Working Joe here is all about.

No fancy spoils, the Nokia E63 means business and brings connectivity and messaging together in a sharp and reliable package. Certainly a no-thrills mobile, the E63 does its jobs with no fuss and at a fair wage. Well, who would frown at that?

   
Nokia E63 official photos

Now, comparisons to E71 are clearly inevitable and maybe we know better than expect Nokia E63 to impress us as much. But who says it can't persuade through common sense.
Key features:
Quad-band GSM support 
3G support 
Landscape 2.36" 16M-color display of QVGA resolution 
Symbian 9.2 OS, S60 UI with FP1 (sprinkled with some FP2) 
369 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 128 MB of SDRAM 
Wi-Fi 
2 megapixel fixed focus camera with LED flash 
120 MB of internal memory, microSD expansion 
Standard 3.5mm audio jack 
Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP support 
microUSB v2.0 
FM radio 
Comfortable full QWERTY keypad 
Convenient shortcut keys 
Provider-independent VoIP support 
Office document editor 
Nokia Maps 
User-friendly Mode Switch for swapping two homescreen setups 
Great battery life 
Remote Lock and Wipe feature 
One-year free subscription for Files on Ovi 
Main disadvantages:
Poor camera performance 
Video recording maxes out at QVGA@15fps 
No GPS 
No RDS in the FM radio 
3.5mm jack protective bud is not attached to the body 
No USB cable in the retail package 
No preinstalled games at all 

Nokia E63 is undoubtedly a trimmed-down version of the E71 and almost a return to the E61i roots - with a 2 megapixel camera and no built-in GPS receiver. Well, the camera of the E71 was largely disappointing in the first place plus, an external Bluetooth GPS receiver is always an option, so we hardly count these as serious drawbacks.